Field of the invention
This invention relates to improvements in or relating to engine testing apparatus and methods, "engine testing" including inter alia detection of "top-dead-center" (when a piston of a piston engine is in the maximum compression position), detection of fuel-injection, measurement of fuel-injection angle or timing, detection of piston rings and detection of piston slap.
Rapid and easy testing of internal combustion piston engines is becoming more and more desirable both in the engine-manufacturing industry, in which large numbers of engines have to be tested, and in engine repair establishments, in which full automation is not really feasible. In present-day engine-manufacture, testing of each and every engine is preferred to sample engine testing because of the high expense of replacing an installed defective engine. However, this does mean that the available time is limited for testing any given engine. In present-day engine-repair establishments, which cannot be fully automated, it is the high cost of manual labour and overheads which limits the time which can be spared for testing any given engine.
Accordingly the ability to carry out rapid and non-intrusive tests for top-dead-centre, fuel injection timing, piston slap and so forth would be highly beneficial.